Faculty Lecture: What Did You Do To My Beer?

As little as a couple of years ago nobody was talking about craft beer. Now, it’s everywhere and for every person bemoaning the extra 50p cost there’s ten more queuing up for a taste.

But what makes these beers so different? It’s all just grain, yeast and hops right? What makes a beer black or clear or cloudy? How do you make a stout chocolaty or milky or both? What is dry hopping? Just how alcoholic can you make a beer before it explodes or something? These questions and more have been keeping us awake at night so we asked Matt from Belfast’s own Boundary Brewing to take us through a beginners guide to the process of making craft beer. We’ll be aiming to increase your appreciation and enjoyment of beer not show you how to set up your own brewery (but if you do want to set up your own brewery this will help a bit).

Matthew Dick is the founder of Boundary Brewing Cooperative. In eight days in 2014, they raised £100k and welcomed 447 member-owners to the cooperative. In 2015 he built a brewery and in May he brewed the first Boundary beers. They sold out immediately and things have been going amazing ever since.